Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- PhD
- MPhil
Overview
The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship comprises a group of academic staff with research interests in two related areas: design innovation and entrepreneurship, spanning both commercial and social sectors. This includes research wholly contained within one of these disciplines or bridging both subjects.
The centre has a reputation for a collaborative and participatory approach to teaching and research, ensuring impact for its stakeholders.
The profile of our team, most of whom are both practitioners and scholars, helps to ensure continual collaboration between academic and non-academic applied settings. We, therefore, welcome and encourage students from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Students may join directly from university studies or be experienced professionals, for example, established entrepreneurs or designers.
Our research areas include:
Entrepreneurship
- Strategy
- Entrepreneurial behaviours
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Entrepreneurship education
- Social justice
- Innovation leadership and culture
- Enterprise education
- Design thinking
- Service design
- Wicked problems
- Social innovation
- Interdisciplinary partnerships
- Drivers of company performance
Design innovation
- Design for sustainability
- Design
- Consumer behaviour
- Design for policy
- Feminist design
- Futures and scenarios
- Human-centred design / prototyping
- UX/interface design / human-computer interaction
- Ethics, governance, and regulation of emerging technologies and AI
- Design for social innovation
- Advertising
- Nature-centred design
For more information visit the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Programme structure
MPhil: this programme is a postgraduate research master's degree. Researchers conduct a significant research project on a topic related to Innovation and Entrepreneurship independently under supervision. It does not have a taught element at the moment although researchers can still benefit from the training offered centrally from the Bristol Doctoral College. MPhil researchers can apply to upgrade to a PhD after completion of the degree.
PhD: this programme allows researchers to conduct a longer research project under supervision that culminates in a thesis which makes a significant contribution to knowledge and defend it before a panel of experts in the field. Researchers receive training offered centrally from the Bristol Doctoral College.
The MPhil and PhD are also available via distance learning.
Entry requirements
MPhil: An upper second-class degree or international equivalent. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree.
PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.
See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.
Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.
If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our profile level B.
Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.
Fees and funding
- Home: full-time
- £5,106 per year
- Home: part-time
- £2,553 per year
- Overseas: full-time
- £21,900 per year
Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.
More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support.
Alumni discount
University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study. Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.
Funding and scholarships
For information on funding opportunities, including University-funded studentships, please see the University of Bristol funding pages.
Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.
Career prospects
Graduates and Research Impact
PhD researchers at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship are supported to critically explore, understand, and evaluate innovation initiatives across diverse contexts. The programme encourages original contributions that advance theory and practice in innovation and entrepreneurship, with a strong emphasis on methodological rigour and real-world relevance.
Where appropriate, researchers are supported by interdisciplinary teams of co-supervisors, enabling rich engagement across fields. Our ethos is to develop researchers who can apply, adapt, and interrogate innovation practices ensuring their work contributes meaningfully both within and beyond academia.
Meet our supervisors
The following list shows potential supervisors for this programme. Visit their profiles for details of their research and expertise.
Research groups
The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's research is organised along three dimensions:
- Design Innovation
- Entrepreneurship (and intrapreneurship)
- Innovation pedagogies
Contact us
- Contact
Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences Postgraduate Research Admissions
- Phone
- +44 (0)
0117 428 2296
artf-pgadmissions@bristol.ac.uk